Sample 1: “…the main reason why most students don’t respect their teachers is due to the fact that most of them have personal relationships with this teachers…the only way in which the government was going to get rid of this cases is if the Inspector-General of Police deploys a number of undercover cops…” (Boarding school students are sleeping with students in their cars at night…Opera News, 3 March, 2022)
We are interested in two phrases in this excerpt: this teachers; this cases. The two phrases are united by a serious grammatical error so elementary and yet so gross that it cannot be ignored. Please note the determiner this in each phrase. The determiner is obviously in its singular form. But the surprising thing is that each of the headwords is its plural form: teachers; cases.
Each phrase then is a bundle of grammatical contradiction: a singular modifier (or determiner)modifies a plural noun. The following phrases have a similar problem: *this houses; *this chairs; *this trees; *this babies; *this books; *these child; *these church; *these girl; *these room; *these car; *that students; *that doctors; *that tables; *that buses; *that officers;*those farm; *those bridge; *those worker; *those pilot; *those prince;*those machine.
Each of those phrases has an error similar in character to the ones we have pointed out. Note, in addition, the following grammatical points. The determiner this, as we have pointed out, is a singular form; its plural form is these; the determiner that is a singular form; its plural form is those.
The following are the correct forms of the grammatically defective phrases: *this houses: either this house or these houses; *this chairs: either this chair or these chairs;*this trees: either this tree or these trees;*this babies: either this baby or these babies; *this books: either this bookor these books;*these child: either this child or these children;*these church: either this church or these churches; *these girl: either this girl or these girls; *these room: either this room or these rooms; *these car: either this car or these cars; *that students: either that student or those students; *that doctors:either that doctor or those doctors;*that tables: either that table or those tables; *that houses: either that house or those houses;*that officers: either that officer or those officers;*those farm: either that farm or those farms; *those bridge: either that bridge or those bridges; *those worker: either that worker or those workers; *those pilot: either that pilot or those pilots; *those prince: either that prince or those princes; *those machine: either that machine or those machines.
You have noticed that there is a correlation between the determiner and the main noun: When the determiner is singular, the main noun is necessarily singular; when the determiner is plural, the main noun is also necessarily plural. This is the nature of grammatical concord which is the harmony of relationships or correspondence of forms among the elements of a grammatical structure. When you have a structure such as *that houses, the principle of concord fails to hold. Concord, in other words, is breached.
Concord is not just a matter of nominal phrases; it is especially important in longer grammatical stretches particularly sentences. Let’s illustrate this principle using sentences.
1a) *This teachers is a woman.(erroneous) 1b) This teacher is a woman. (correct) or: These teachers are women. (correct) 2a) *This girls is beautiful. (erroneous) 2b) These girls are beautiful. Or: This girl is beautiful. (correct) 3a) *These fruit is ripe. (erroneous) 3b) These fruits are ripe. (correct) Or: This fruit is ripe. 4a) *This cars is expensive. (erroneous) 4b These cars are expensive. (correct) Or: This car is expensive. (correct) 5a *That children is intelligent. (erroneous) 5b) Those children are intelligent. (correct) Or: That child is intelligent. (correct) 6) *That snakes is poisonous. (erroneous) 6b) That snake is poisonous. (correct) Or: Those snakes are poisonous. (correct) 7) *That dogs are dangerous. (erroneous) 7b) That dog is dangerous. (correct) Or: Those dogs are dangerous. (correct) 8) *Thatmen are fraudulent. (erroneous) 8b) That man is fraudulent. (correct) Or: Those men are fraudulent. (correct) 9 *This boys is a prince. (erroneous) 8b) This boy is a prince. (correct) Or: These boys are princes. 9) *That boys is a prince. (erroneous) 9b) That boy is a prince. (correct) Or: Those boys are princes. (correct) 10) *Those car is expensive. (erroneous) 10b) Those cars are expensive. (correct) Or: That car is expensive. (correct) 11) *Those experiment is successful. (erroneous) 11b) That experiment is successful. (correct) Or: Those experiments are successful. 12) *Those school is of high standards. (erroneous) 12b) That school is of high standard. (correct) Or: Those schools are of high standard. (correct) 13) *That teeth is already weak. (erroneous) 13b) Those teeth are already weak. (correct) Or: That tooth is already weak. (correct)
You must have noticed how the presence or absence of a seemingly inconsequential letter can make a crucial grammatical difference.At a certain level of concord, the elements -s, -es and -ies must be taken seriously. Read the erroneous sentences again, note the point at which the errors occur, and compare the incorrect sentences with the error-free ones.
Sample 2: “To make the programme successful, the state government has reportedly invited all the government political appointees to mobilise there supporters for the rally…(2023: PDP, APC bicker as Atiku visits Edo, Vanguard Newspapers Online, 23 October, 023)
The word deserving attention is there which occurs in the following context: “to mobilise there supporters for the rally.” It is a matter of elementary grammar that the form their should be the appropriate word in the context. This, I think, is one of the basic points of grammar we learnt at the elementary school. It is obvious that the writer has no grasp of the grammatical difference between the forms there and their. The error is irritatingly shameful.
In the light of this, it is important to illustrate the difference between the words there andtheir. Please read the following sentences: 1) There are many more people outside the hall than inside. 2) There is no wisdom in that suggestion. 3) There were rumours that the president had another woman in his life. 4) There is no reason to leave so early since the programme is scheduled to commence late in the afternoon. 5) There were many undercover security men snooping around. 6) There was no truth in the story. 7) Neither the chairman nor the secretary was there. 8) I was able to pick some useful information here and there. 9) How soon will you be there? 10) I was there waiting for you for almost three hours.
For the proper usage of the word their, please read the following sentences: 1) Their house is not far from ours. 2) The ancient Jews and their forefathers are part of the heroes of the Christian faith. 3) Their lawyers are holding a meeting with our own lawyers next week. 4) Sadly, their plan is to destroy their opponents’ business interests. 5) I find it difficult to understand why they could not mind their business. 6) Their directors are planning to reduce the workforce. 7) It is not their duty to tell us how to run our own affairs. 8) Their students are not even half as brilliant as our own. 9) Their house is directly opposite the bank. 10) How can our failure be a reason for their celebration?
The following sentences each contain the two words under consideration: 1) Were you not there when their thugs attacked our chairman? 2) It is their fault that their representatives were not there when the case started. 3) There were a few men at the meeting who claimed to be representing their bosses’ interest. 4) A lady went there, met the children, claimed be their mother’s friend and took some money from them. 5) I was there when our president visited that country and said something positive about their political system.
It should be obvious now that the word their should replace there in the context under review.
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